The Traitor of Intelligence
by ItsATrap101
Summary: What if Watcher Two/Keeper was the real mastermind against Cipher Nine? What if she masqueraded as Hunter all along? How would the Imperial Agent cope with him being betrayed by a member of Imperial Intelligence and the Sith Empire? Alternate Universe


**Okay, I just finished my Imperial Agent avatar and I admit that the storyline was fun, but the ending seemed to leave me wanting more, and not in a good way (at least compared to how much hype the storyline was building up to). If you don't know what I'm talking about because you haven't played the character yet to completion, stop right here for there will be lines of dialogue taken directly from the cutscenes, but overall, this is an Alternative Universe. **

** This is the ending that I thought would have happened with the Imperial Agent.**

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><p>Cipher Nine was in a race to save the Sith Empire..., and the Republic as well. After all he's been through, the Chiss agent was confident he could succeed. Not that it was going to be easy - having faced against a member of the Dark Council and his own psyche has proven that already - but that he was destined to save the galaxy from the corrupt insanity of the Star Cabal.<p>

How dare Hunter offer him to turn against the Empire...! It may have its faults, but it had so much worth saving..., and ironically enough, he will be saving the Republic from catastrophe...

It's a worthy sacrifice. If the Empire falls, so falls everything that adds meaning to his life..., as well as take it away.

Cipher Nine looked ahead and saw the Black Codex, the key to all the mysteries of the Star Cabal, maybe even everything Imperial Intelligence has been fighting for. And the only thing standing in his way was Hunter, an agent much like him. It was Hunter who stood in the way of truth, and the deciding fate of the Republic and the Empire.

"No way out anymore. I dreamed about this. You and me tearing each other apart..." Hunter nearly gnashed his teeth as he stared icily into the Chiss's vague eyes. The cipher could have sworn to see his gaunt cheekbones take a different shape, but ignored the peculiarity. He knew he had to stay focused. Of course, he was used to Hunter's insults, getting ready for the firefight that will eventually come. "Who would've figured an Imperial cipher could threaten us...? Why'd you have to be Imperial? You would've fit right in. We could've been partners!"

"Ready when you are, sir." Ensign Raina Temple murmured into the alien's ear... Cipher Nine has been ready for what appeared like an eternity.

He fired a shot at Hunter, which caused the trickster to dodge for cover behind one of the pillars that surrounded the Codex. Sending a rain of shots back at the cipher, which was quickly dodged. Cipher Nine fired past Hunter's ear, hitting the controls to the lights. It became pitched black, with only sparks flying from the melting console that barely illuminated the room.

Hunter quickly got a glimpse of his Chiss nemesis before he disappeared into the darkness, perhaps using a cloaking screen. It didn't matter to him. It didn't matter at all. "You should have been a slave, as you were always meant to be, a- I mean, c-cipher." Hunter stuttered as he used special sensors in his wrist gauntlet.

Then he heard the agent's laughter.

Temple followed his lead between pillars, going behind Hunter, then in front of him again... Raina decided to stop the second time around and get ready to fire a stun dart at Hunter's back... She waited...

"You don't deserve to be Imperial. The Empire will fall because of creatures like you!" Hunter raised an eyebrow and smirked... '_The cipher was savoring my feint cluelessness. Bad move for him.' _Hunter thought to himself. "You think you're free in the Empire? You think you're free from our control? You forget your place!"

For a split second, Cipher Nine was flooded with dread before Hunter shouted out, "Keyword, Iconoclasm, Thesh protocol!" The Cipher froze immediately, not because he was shocked at how Hunter found out his replaced 'keyword', but because he couldn't attack Hunter in any way. He also couldn't regulate the cloaking screen, which brought color to his body again.

The emergency red lights finally flickered on as Hunter turned around and continued smiling... "It hurts, doesn't it, agent? Still in the Mind Control and never knowing it...? Oh, and the spectre of Watcher X? Yeah, I knew all along."

He chortled as he stepped closer to Cipher Nine, as the Intelligence agent couldn't raise a hand against him. "You see, this is where aliens deserve to be! All of you!"

The Cipher grimaced as he got within breathing space. "I took that you were crafty, but I never imagined that you were xenophopic."

"It's no phobia. I just want peace; the only way there can be peace is if the Empire and Republic were to crumble-"

"And replace it with the 'might' of the Star Cabal. We had this conversation before, Hunter..." The Cipher's foil came up to him..., stepping nonchalantly closer.

Then, he punched the Chiss in the corner of his jaw. Hard... The Cipher crumbled to the floor, and before he could get himself up, Hunter kicked him in the face, just missing his nose. Something definitely broke.

"I would command you not to speak, but in truth, I enjoy the witty banter we share."

The agent just spat a mixture of blood and saliva at Hunter's feet, trying his hardest to lift the rifle at him but it just wouldn't work. "How did you know that what was left of Watcher X was in my mind."

Hunter just guffawed. "The hindrance of your ignorance is just that perfect level of amusement, Legate, but what should I expect from a pitiful alien like yourself...?" Hunter paused circling around him, absolutely enjoying the power he had over him. "To tell you the truth, the Watcher did not intend to betray you... Seeing what was left of him in your mind, I knew that he genuinely wanted to free you. Somehow, someway, he pitied a person like yourself."

The Cipher grunted in pain as he felt the programming refill his bleached brain cavities, singeing neural arteries, and making every other part of his mind swell. A headache grew, then he started shaking his head in maim. "AHH! Ah!" Cipher gasped at the torture he so cruelly remembered.

"Yes, Cipher, I can feel your pain..." Hunter sniggered. "Don't be alarmed, I'm not a rogue Force-user... You see, with the brainwashing, the one the Empire installed in you, I was given an opposite serum to that. I can read your mind. Connect your loose thoughts. Understand your fears."

Hunter reveled in delight as Cipher Nine groaned loudly in intense pain, trying to see if he could enter Hunter's mind, but there seemed to be no way... The programming acted with no reciprocal.

"I hate you." The Chiss tried to spit at him again, but his mouth was getting more dry as the mind control took effect again.

"It was fun, really..." Hunter continued to toy with him. But then the Cipher gulped as he saw him reach for his blaster. "But I'm afraid I'll have to spoil my own fun... I have plans, agent, and you won't stand in my way this time." He raised the scratched barrel to his heart...

Then Hunter gasped in shock as he felt something on the back of his neck. He wanted to raise a hand to feel what it was, but couldn't... He was still conscious, standing up, but couldn't move at all.

"You will not raise another hand on him!" Ensign Temple walked forward and, surprisingly, grazed Hunter's side with a blaster bolt, purposefully trying to hurt but not kill the serpent...

Cipher Nine beamed as he saw Raina come to his rescue, reaching to take out the incapacitating dart, but before doing so, said, "You will get on your knees and not physically hurt any of us, or else... Keyword, Iconoclasm..."

She pulled the dart out as Hunter forced himself to get on his knees and clutch his side... Raina returned to Cipher Nine's side as she raised a hand to help him to his feet... It took a second to realize that Hunter couldn't mentally order him around anymore as long as Raina has control of his mind. He made a mental note to make her life a priority...

He took her hand and got to his feet, as they both looked down at Hunter. The Cipher's red, vuluminous eyes were intense.

Hunter just gasped, feeling the effects of the mind control, which caused the Chiss to remember a peculiarity. "I... I don't get it... How can you have control over Hunter's mind?"

Raina nodded as she got herself together, still looking spitefully at Hunter. "I knew from when he gave the Keyword, once we we're acting as double agents with the SIS. When they were taking the Shadow Arsenal on Quesh... I got some of the IX serum, with the diamalium-6 and..., well, I..."

Cipher Nine shook his head as he continued to stare down on Hunter... "Enough, Ensign... Report to me on the whole story when we get back at the ship."

"Right..." She turned back to their wounded captive. "Hunter, tell us what you know about the Star Cabal, their motives, everything." She nervously ordered Hunter.

Cipher Nine raised his blaster and aimed between his eyes, just in case... Hunter scrunched up his eyebrows before taking a quick deep breath. "The Black Codex... The legacy of the Star Cabal..." He gasped in agony again. "It's your responsibility now." He told Cipher Nine. "Everything we built... Everything we hid from you... You're the only one like us left..." He groaned. "But between you and me, I have one last thing to show you."

"One last thing?" The Cipher grew curious and lowered his blaster. "You have my attention."

"I was trained by the best. Agents... Slicers... I even went to Tatooine to visit the Old Man..."

Hunter pressed a button on his gauntlet that slowly morphed the Ghost Cell disguise he had on. For a quick second, swirls of azure dissipation of a cloaking screen came and gone. Red hair became black, same length... His armor turned into what appeared to be an Imperial officer's suit... And his features turned into that of a woman... But what shocked Cipher Nine the most was that he recognized the person Hunter turned into...

The features became more clear and it was certain. He recognized those eyes, her voice... He was staring down on Keeper, formerly Watcher Two of Imperial Intelligence... And clearly a _traitor_.

The Cipher had no words as his jaw dropped down.

"You!" Raina pointed an accusatory finger at her... The woman just gave a meek grin, as if trying to smile but finding herself unable to in the situation she was in.

"Yes, Cipher Nine... It's me..."

Raina was still flabbergasted, like the Imperial agent. "How did- He trusted you! You were his closest companion within Intel!"

The cipher just closed his mouth and grimaced at how he's been duped ever since starting with Intelligence. Ever since he began his career.

"It was easy, really." Keeper kept a straight face as she stared at the unfathomable eyes of the Chiss. "Even when I had doubts of manipulating the Empire's destruction, you, cipher, have always been a great motivator..."

"You will answer every question Cipher Nine has for you, starting with you're name? Keyword, Iconoclasm." Raina forced the question on her.

The traitor shook her head, trying to escape the sieving torture flooding her mind... "Sh-Sh-Shara J-Jenn." She answered begrudgingly.

Cipher Nine finally had the ability to speak, twitching his upper lip a bit in disgust. "Not only did I trusted you, but the Empire trusted you... Why would you destroy the Empire that your family have been protecting for generations?"

The formality in the Chiss's tone has been extinguished in exchange for a shakier mood.

"Because of you alien filth! Ever since they allowed aliens into high ranks of Intelligence and the Academy; it was all wrong!"

Cipher Nine growled in despite. "You did all this because of aliens!?"

Shara laughed, like he was naïve. "I have many ill wills to aliens. Historically, Personally, Symbolically..." She took a deep breath before continuing. "During the Great Hyperspace War, aliens were allowed into the military, but never gaining a rank higher than the lowest one... Naga Sadow may have disliked aliens like every Sith Pureblood and Human in that war, but he knew he needed all the help they can get... The swine were weak, undisciplined, and they abandoned the Sith Empire when Sadow was betrayed. Aliens are what led us into exile, what almost made our Sith Empire extinct, what caused the Republic to ravage most of Korriban."

The Chiss, naturally, was still not sympathetic to Shara's first reason. "I'm sure aliens were confused and doubted their rewards if they continued the fighting on a losing side. They may have not been endeared to the Empire's plot, but to this day, they are trying to alleviate that."

Shara scrunched up. "If only your family line was there from the beginning. But no, you'll never fully understand what the Empire is... After I learned the history, it affected me _personally_... How my ancestors were betrayed... Then it really became personal when a slave revolt of an alien 'zoo' slaughtered my mother and half my family who were there just to visit her work environment... I asked those aliens how they could do it; they said they saw my family as animals and slaughtered them like animals... Were they mental!? They're the ones who are the savage animals!" She kept herself from sobbing.

Cipher Nine felt a gut wretch in his stomach on hearing how aliens negatively affected the lives of higher Imperials... How certain aliens take rash actions that prevent the wellbeing of all other aliens. "I feel your pain, Keeper..., but that doesn't excuse you to betray the Empire."

"Well, how's this for an excuse!?" She thrashed her arms, wobbling to her feet. "You aliens were allowed into the Republic military, high ranks, causing the Empire 'destined' to be destroyed... It made me want to destroy those Republic brutes just as badly... But then, oh, then they allowed aliens into the Imperial Army, even as officers. How could they?! Ever since then, it made me question why we were fighting. And then I read up how aliens were allowed into Imperial Intelligence, allowed to delve into the secrets of the Empire where only Humans and Purebloods are allowed to go... When I heard you became an agent, your exploits on Nal Hutta, how the Keeper at the time allowed a _Rattataki_ anarchist to be your partner instead of having her killed off then and there... It was the last straw for me... Working on the inside, I pulled up files of terrorist cells... Since then, I tried to manipulate them, manipulate a man known to us as 'The _Eagle_'..."

Cipher Nine's mouth drooped slightly in shock... He didn't connect two to two together. "The Balmorran Resistance... VerveGen Corporation... Ghost Cell... Denri Ayl and Baroness Chay Cortess... The Eagle's Nest... You were able to mastermind _all_ of them...?"

"I played with them and promised what they wanted... It's honestly really easy to get these men and women to work for the Star Cabal if it meant they 'got' what they desired..." Shara saw the look on his face. "Yes, cipher... I had a hand in everything you fought against... Plus, I found even ground with Darth Jadus and the Eradicators... You see, we didn't just grow the Eradictor bioweapons to _terrorize_ the Empire... We wanted to use the Eradicators to wipe out all alien races within the Empire, wherever we can use those machines, to fulfill my objective of genocide and Jadus's objective of bringing 'Sith ideals of terror and hatred to its citizens'"

Cipher Nine nodded with a lump in his throat... "What _you_ considered to be citizens of the Empire...?"

"Exactly..." She spat with no hesitation. "But if you remember from Dromund Kaas, Jadus had his own objectives in you... He saw Sith traits in you, wanted to revel that... I knew Jadus couldn't be a partner anymore... After you caught along, after he escaped the recalibrated dreadnought, I had him executed... I'm just surprised he didn't expect betrayal after pursuing his own vendetta."

"All you seem to know is betrayal." Cipher Nine growled back at Shara.

She almost snorted. "As everyone should know, we all betray each other..., in time..."

"Since the very beginning, I always thought you had a calculated mind on details and secrecy. I admired that... But Darth Zhorrid, Jadus's daughter. She seemed to have disappeared... Care to explain?"

"That's another thing." Shara grimaced... "Darth Zhorrid is my _sister_! Estranged and ostracized, but still my sister... Yes, I betrayed my own father. My father is Darth Jadus, who believed he had power to sway over me... I had no affiliation with the Force, despite those in my family who had... Eventually, the members of the Dark Council learned about Darth Jadus's treachery... They either were afraid that Zhorrid was in line with Jadus or mocked her for her oversight of Jadus being a traitor to the Empire... They had her killed and the former Keeper, now Minister of Intelligence, hush up the execution of my..., _sister_... Eventually, Darth Baras, Dark Council member who runs the Department of Military Offense, took control over Intelligence... The hand of the Star Cabal was starting to play its deceptive hand."

That begged-the-question. "Darth Baras wasn't part of the Star Cabal, was he?"

"No..." Shara admitted, closing her eyes like she was in pain. "But we were able to manipulate him like everyone else. How I manipulated my family."

To Cipher Nine, family had never been a part of his life... Since birth, he's been ripped away from the Chiss Ascendency to live in the Kaas City, grow up as a pure Imperial, despite being an alien... And then, as a profession, he chose the Sphere of Imperial Intelligence... That was before Intelligence, before Shara Jenn, betrayed him...

He remembered what the Eagle said, how he's been 'betrayed' from a member of Intelligence... He always thought it was just Jadus... Now he realizes otherwise.

"And you were behind my Mind Control as well?" A corner of the Chiss's mouth frowned.

"I expected you to go with Jadus's sly conviction; of you going along with the plan to terrorize the Empire through the Eradicators, to kill Humans and Purebloods because you've been discriminated for being a Chiss in the Sith Empire. But you didn't... Even an oppressed minority like yourself still chose to save 'human and Sith lives'. How unnecessarily noble of you..."

"Now knowing who the Eradicators was originally going to exterminate, I'm glad I made that decision." Cipher Nine murmured.

"With the Mind Control, I had to get you out of the picture, read your thoughts since you had a surprisingly unpredictable edge... I wanted to have you killed, which is why I manipulated the SIS to send you on impossible missions..."

Cipher Nine recalled when he met Hunter at a casino in the Promenade of Nar Shaddaa, now knowing he was always speaking to his Keeper of Operation Divisions...

"You were Hunter all along...?" He revamped.

"And I enjoyed deceiving an ignorant alien like yourself... I harnessed the growing Dark Side in Ardun Kothe and began my secret alias as Hunter... The goal was to get you killed with missions on Taris, Hoth, then Quesh. Ki Sazen and her Morgukai warriors building a rakghoul army with the Ultrawave Transmitter. Admiral Layek Davos, his White Maw Pirates, and Laren Omas's shuttle as you know to be the _Starbreeze_... And then the Shadow Arsenal in Nasan Godera's labs..."

"And you caused me to almost turn my back to the Empire... After I learned that Intelligence brainwashed me and the SIS got the codes from the Imperial Science Bureau...; after all the hell I've been through, I really did want to betray the Empire... I didn't, but the thought always lingered..."

Shara smiled for a quick second. "And if you did, it would have been good riddance for me."

"But I found out about how to cure the brainwashing from tearing up my mind... The diamalium-6 fought against the Castellan Restraints... The Minister of Intelligence programmed the brainwashing just because I denied a member of the Dark Council for killing innocent people, as well as protecting the Empire against terrorism!"

"True..." Shara agreed. "But I wouldn't call aliens 'innocent people'."

"Either way, it was _I_ who safeguarded the Empire and _I_ who thought you were on _my_ side!"

"Just forget all those moments where I helped you on missions, when you thought I was serving you in missions... All this time, you were serving me!"

The Chiss growled. "You sent me on supposedly impossible missions to Taris and Hoth. Then what?"

"I was trying to have you killed on Quesh, when Kothe ordered you to stay at the shield generator control center... I was planning on having my Star Cabal to bomb you from the skies... But since you reversed the IX Serum, I realized my plans to bringing you out of the picture were a failure... Either way, you had Kothe killed, and I planned for that... The SIS was in shambles... All I had to do then was wipe out Imperial Intelligence to pave way for the Republic's and Empire's destruction, issue a new era for the galaxy where only one unified culture can persist, where only civilized men and women can coexist, not constant fighting of alien cultures against alien cultures against the Imperial idealism."

"Let me guess the rest of the story." Cipher Nine put his hands on his hips. "With the help of Republic prisoners, I invaded Megasecurity Ward 23 where I discovered the origins of the Star Cabal proceeded the Unification Wars... A joint of defected men and women from the Empire and the Republic... Including others from the Hutt Cartel, former Infinite Empire, Voss Mystics Czerka Corporation, Mandalorians. For the Voss, you sent the Shining Man, Albathius, to gain the favor of the Three.

"With the origins of the Star Cabal, they believed that money, technology, and information gathered the galaxy together, not the religion of the Jedi and Sith... I didn't care... I didn't believe in the crusade of the Star Cabal, just to remake the Empire... I, Shara Jenn, am the Master Manipulator... I serve the Empire as it should always have been. Strong, revered, and one where aliens don't tarnish the ways of the universe... The others of the Star Cabal didn't know these goals... As the Prince told you, a 'finer age' was in the mist of formation... They were right... A 'finer age' would come when all unnatural life is purged."

"And you had my death faked so we could meet...? Why? Why lower the defenses of the Star Chamber?"

She stared at him with a straight face, black pupils meeting glowing red eyes... "I've dreamed, yearned this for a long time... I've always wanted to kill you since the beginning..., but I know now that my mission is a failure" Suddenly, she launched a comatose dart into Raina Temple, who collapsed immediately to the floor... Cipher Nine first reaction was shock.

_'How could she- she couldn't have seen that coming! Couldn't she read her mind!?' _Cipher Nine buzzed in his head.

"How- What- you coward!" The Chiss stuttered.

Shara Jenn smirked one last time... "The reason I told you all that wasn't because I believed I lost everything..." She pulled out a blaster... "I just wanted to see the look on your face when everything comes crashing down around you! It's just you and me now, cipher... Let's see if the Empire reliance on you speaks for itself!"

Surprisingly, the traitor, so prone with masterminding intelligence and information, was also a master duelist... She barrel-rolled, tossed grenades, fired blaster bolts, flames, and darts at the Chiss as he barely kept up at dodging them all...

Shara was rotten with hatred, like a true Sith in battle... She gave everything she got knocking out the blaster rifle from Cipher Nine's hands, as well as his pistol, causing him to dodge behind relics that told unknown histories of the Jedi, Sith, Voss, and the Star Cabal... History, information, that must all have been in the Black Codex they were fighting for.

But the Chiss had an eye for pragmatism, and saw weaknesses in his enemy's fighting stance, an enemy he always seen as a potential lover.

In one split second, Shara threw an electrostaff at him, scrapping his ear the corner of his ear... The Chiss cursed.

Cipher Nine eventually got his pistol back as he continued hightailing away from the awry of Shara's shots, once scrapping his calf, would have burned his flesh had it not been for the overlapping shin guard.

The Master Manipulator said nothing as she continued propelling everything she had at him, but eventually, too many scraping burns and fatigue took over... When that became apparent, Cipher Nine shot at the hand that held her blaster, melting her officer pistol and singeing her hand...

Weaponless, she looked up as the agent gave a precise punch to the forehead. She rocked slightly, then came to understand that she was beaten... Slowly, she put her hands up, and after a few seconds, sighed... "I'm not sorry." She mumbled, but with an apologetic tone.

Cipher Nine grimaced once again. "All of it has been a lie. You being devoted to Imperial Intelligence. You always having my back, to have the brains of the organization... I-I loved you..." The agent admitted, hoisting his rifle over his shoulder.

Watcher Two, Keeper, frowned... "I hated your kind, but I acknowledged that you had an attraction to me... In another lifetime, I may have joined your crew as a partner, with hired-gun Kaliyo Djannis.., diplomat Vector Hyllus, Doctor Eckard Lokin, Ensign Raina Temple... Watcher Shara Jenn..." She shook her head... "There was something between us, but that can't be anymore. I'm a true Imperial, pureblood to the core. I couldn't dare share a life with alien, let alone work with them forever... I was so close to my goal, but I failed... An alien triumphed over me... Another lifetime, people may have looked up to Hunter and Cipher Nine... 'They're the tough ones.' They'd say. 'They get the job done...'"

The cipher swallowed, aware what he had to do. "You-you're the best enemy I could ever ask for..."

Shara didn't back away as the alien kissed her... She just kept her arms awkwardly to their sides as a tear of both joy and sorrow escaped her eye, cumbrously trailing against the Chiss's cheek. Cipher Nine arched his back, stepping in reverse for a few paces, but still keeping the kiss strong.

Then, the silence was broken as a deep blaster shot was fired... Immediately followed by a gasp from Shara Jenn. He felt a shot of hot breath hit his face as oxygen escaped her lungs... She looked down and saw the blaster wound around her navel. Then two more shot erupted in the same area as Shara Jenn collapsed backwards.

She tried to breathe air back in but realized that couldn't be done anymore... She just looked up to the Chiss... "So, I'm betrayed by the same thing that embodies the Empire... I couldn't ask for a more..., self-righteous..., death... Seeing it was you...," She held the fatal burns that through her... "I realize I..., was wrong... With agents like you..., the Empire will remain-"

Then she lost all life as she went into eternal sleep... Cipher Nine, flooded with guilt, took the needed action, and dragged her to the nearest airlock in the room, closing the seal, and getting ready to press the controls for expulsion...

Cipher Nine kept an unemotional look to his face... "May the Empire remember you well, Shara..."

The agent, hesitantly, hit the button, and launching the traitor into deep space.

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><p><strong>Again, I expected a tie-in to the three acts of the Imperial Agent storyline, and thought I should publish what I imagined the ending should have been. I always thought Watcher Two should have been a companion, definitely a more desirable companion than SCORPIO... Realizing that she wouldn't be a companion, I predicted that she was going to be the villain for the Third Act, which turned out to be a random woman... <strong>

**In the end, I just hope you all enjoy an alternate universe to one of the more enjoyable avatars for Star Wars: The Old Republic.**

**-ItsATrap101**


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